My Favorite things about the British Method of teaching English
My Favorite Web Sites for Teaching English
English Lesson
The 13 vowel sounds of English
TOEFL lessons and other grammar lessons
How to become an interesting teacher
My favorite place in Florida
More practice pages for English (Opposites)
What does a student need? ========================================================================================================================= First, do a "needs assessment." Ask the students what they want to do with the new language. Make a website? write a poem? write to a girlfriend? Find out the passion. =================================================================================================================================================================== Here are some lists of possible tools and places to start lessons. =================================================================================================================================================== 1. Organize your binder (sections, divide, divisions, separations, separate) =================================================================================================================================================== 2. Numbers (first, second, third, 1500, 30, 13) =================================================================================================================================================== 3. Alphabet by telephone (A like Ana, B like Boy, …) 4. Seasons 5. Human body 6. Problems with the body (cut, bruise, headache, pain) 7. Parts of the car 8. Family (brother, sister, uncle, niece, nephew, cousin) 9. Actions in the classroom (erase, get up) 10. Actions in the house (get up, brush, go to sleep) =================================================================================================================================================================== 11. Around the house (in, on, over, under) 12. The table (knife, fork, spoon) 13. Bedroom 14. Living Room 15. Things in the Kitchen 16. The Airport 17. The Restaurant 18. The bank 19. Fruits and vegetables =================================================================================================================================================================== 20. Meat 21. Animals (in the zoo, on the farm) 22. Tools in the house (hammer, screw) 23. Time (it’s 4 p.m., noon, midnight, 4:15 a.m.) 24. Past verbs (go, went, see, saw, look, looked) 25. T or D at the end (looked = lookt, arrived = ar-RIVD) 26. TED or DED (landed = LAN ded, started = STAR ted) 27. Pronunciation (cat, pen, fish, pot, sun, foot, house, dog) 28. S or Z (his = hiz, has = haz, it’s = its, pass = s, passes = pas sez, says = sez) 29. 12 Tenses =================================================================================================================================================================== 30. Everything in your binder (small talk, continue to learn, etc.) 31. Opposites (it is hot, it is cold, he is happy, he is not sad) 32. Opposite verbs (open the door, close the door) 33. What do you want to do today? 34. Use the Audiotronics machine (play, repeat, listen to your voice, listen to the tape, repeat, listen to your voice, play the next part) 35. Use the pause (temporary stop) button on the DVD machine 36. Holidays in other countries 37. Vacation words (rent a car, make a reservation) 38. Two-part verbs (take out, put out, pick up, put in) 39. spelling, simple dictation skills (listen to a tape and write the words) =================================================================================================================================================================== 40. map use (turn left, go straight) 41. politeness expressions (excuse me, I would like to eat a steak, if it is possible…) 42. asking for repetition (I did not understand, please repeat what you said) 43. Ask for information: help, directions, change, opening times, etc. 44. note-taking of information + reading basic information 45. following instructions, advice (school, host family, police, etc) "please write it down for me" 46. likeS, workS 47. BE + hungry, thirsty, afraid, etc 48. days & dates 49. simple shopping practice, checks, ATM cards =================================================================================================================================================================================================== Here are some fun ways to do things in the classroom =================================================================================================================================================================== 1. take control of the physical lay-out. Try to avoid rows and columns of chairs. Put students in a half circle around you. =================================================================================================================================================================== 2. talk as little as possible. Create practice sessions for pronunciation and talking sessions so that you listen to their mistakes. =================================================================================================================================================================== 3. Give papers (worksheets) to half of the students -- force students to work together and talk together. =================================================================================================================================================================== 4. visit these websites. www.angelfire.com/fl4/englishlesson =================================================================================================================================================================== www.geocities.com/stevemccrea/index.html =================================================================================================================================================================== www.angelfire.com/fl4/stevetest =================================================================================================================================================================== 5. don't make your teaching methods a mystery or a secret -- let the students know about these websites, too. Let them help you create an atmospphere where they walk in, pick up a pen, and start making questions for each other. 6. The ideal classroom is where the teacher is invisible. You cn create a routine where students take charge of their learning and they take turns teaching each other, espeically in small groups or teams. =================================================================================================================================================================== Language learning is not exactly like learning chemistry or economics, where the teacher transmits information to the students. The method used by the British system, called CELTA, depends on students doing work themselves. They need to do homework and come to class ready to explain things. Let the students tell you and each other how to describe a Many students have partial knowledge. Let them shine. Let them demonstrate what they know. =================================================================================================================================================================== OLD STYLE: I'm going to tell you the parts of the body. Now, repeat after me. I am going to write these names on the board and you will copy these words on your page. =================================================================================================================================================================== NEW STYLE: Draw a picture of the body. I want each pair to mark 10 parts of the body. For example, Pierre, what is this? (hold up hand). Pierre: "hand". Teacher: Very good. Write hand on your page. Henrique, how do you spell HAND? Henrique : H A M T Teacher: let's say the names like on the telephone: H like Happy, A like Ann, N like Nancy, D like? students: David! =================================================================================================================================================================== Teacher: Very good. Any questions? What is this? (point to ear) stuents: Ear! Teacher: Good, put it on your picture. Find 8 more for me. Come on, Veronique, work with Simone. =================================================================================================================================================================== OTHER TIPS: Definitely put boys with boys and girls with girls. For a description of the cave amn theory, visit www.angelfire.com/fl4/cavemanwoman =========================================================================================================================================================== Give your students something to listen to at night or in their cars. You can record 60 minutes of your voice on cassette. I did this with Opposites. You can read the basic text. They can try to write everything that you say on the tape. If you go to this website: https://www.angelfire.com/fl4/stevetest ................... you will find the script that I use for my students. They listen to the cassette and repeat the words or give the answers during the pause. This is good for building the muscles for the speaking of the words. Then (when they are confident with the pronunciation), they can write everything they hear on the cassette. This will be good for their spelling. For example, the students hear "What is the opposite of morning? --------- evening." They might write: "Wot iz the oposit uv mawrning? ----- ivenin" ========================================================================================================================================================== If you give the students the web site address, then they can be their own teachers and check their own work, and they can work at their own pace. =================================================================================================================================================================================================================================== If your students are looking for a pen friend by email, they can write to my students (via me) or they can visit the www.eslcafe.com website.... there is a pen pal section that the students can visit. REMEMBER: when you take a worksheet from the Internet or from a photocopiable book, ALWAYS make half of the number of copies. Make the students work together. At the end of the class, you can make copies of their work and give it back to them (this procedure helps them write more clearly and to work together.) ================================================================================================================================================================= Remember, make the lessons interesting and personal. If you reveal something about yourself, the students will usually reveal something about themselves. If you ask them to write about their dreams, plans, what they want to do with English, then there are lots of responses ("I want to understand the music of Eminem") ... through music, much grammar and vocab can be absorbed, because the students are PASSIONATELY interested in that subject! ================================================================================================================================================================= Thank you for visiting my page at Angelfire. Please come back and visit again!
